11: Success

Having been threatened by Kev, George had even more reason to hope that Dougie would shortly be going to campus for medical tests. His own experience of recruitment hadn't been without stress, but he was glad it had happened and wondered where he'd be now if he'd spent the past three years in children's homes instead of on CHERUB's campus. It didn't bear thinking about, so he focused on keeping the knife hidden in his shirt as he headed for Helen's office and knocked three times.

"Can I help… oh, it's you. Is it important?" she asked when she came out, changing her tune when she saw him, shutting the door and keeping her voice down

"It's not vital, I suppose," George said sheepishly, realising that he should have waited until she was finished with Dougie. "A couple of yobs ambushed me in my room. One of them had this," he added, pulling the knife out.

Helen was obviously shocked, but she regained her composure quickly. "Give me that. This might actually be a good time. Come in, please." She opened the door and showed George in.

The first thing he saw was a tearful Dougie sitting in the chair stiffly, trying to act as if he hadn't been crying. Helen motioned for him to take a seat in the only other available chair as she skirted around the desk and put the knife down in front of Dougie. The ten-year-old stared at it, wide-eyed.

"So, someone just broke into the house and tried to stab George with this, saying that he wanted his game back," Helen said coldly, not taking her eyes off Dougie. "Now you can see what violence means. What if you'd gone upstairs and found him lying in his room, dead, with this sticking out of him?"

Dougie didn't reply, but his face had gone very white.

"Now, this is your final chance. Do you want to tell me who you're hiding that very violent game for?" she asked, looking over at George. "This isn't a game where if you tell a lie you'll get sent to your room. It's a serious crime and if you really are responsible, there will be very serious consequences."

George wasn't sure what to do with his face when Dougie turned to look at him, but he settled for a threatening look in the hope that it would encourage Dougie to keep his mouth shut.

"Um…" Dougie began, giving George an apologetic look. "George told me to look after it for him. He said he was on his final warning and would get kicked out if I told you," he admitted, bursting into a fresh round of tears. "I'm really sorry, Helen, please don't punish us."

"Thank you, Dougie. You may go," Helen said, standing up and pointing to the door. "George, you stay here."

Dougie got out of the chair and left, wiping his face on the front of his t-shirt and not meeting George's gaze. Once he'd gone, George stood up and shut the door.

"What do you think?" Helen said, putting the knife away in her drawer.

"Of what? Dougie?" George asked, taking a seat in the chair that Dougie had vacated.

"Yeah. Think he handled himself well?"

George shrugged. "He told you the truth in the end, so it sounds like he's failed."

Helen shook her head. "He sat in that chair for almost ten minutes, bawling his eyes out when I threatened that he'd be moved to another children's home if the game was really his, but he didn't say anything until you were here. For a ten-year-old who thinks of Alexandra House as his home, that's very impressive."

"Why did you make him crack in the end, then? He looked terrified," George asked.

"If he'd said nothing until the bitter end, it would have been impressive, but you arriving with that knife was a perfect opportunity. Cherubs have to be good under pressure, but not reckless. There's no demonstrable link between video game violence and violence in real life, but what ten-year-old knows that? If I tell him he might've caused a knife murder and he still stays silent, it hints at bad judgement. All in all, he performed extremely well and he'll be taken to campus tonight. If he agrees to join, he'll undertake the medical and entrance tests in the afternoon and be back here in the evening ready to leave ASAP, but if he refuses or fails, we'll move him back here as if nothing happened. Either way, I'd guess you'll be gone in a week," Helen said, pressing a few keys on her computer and printing a document. "He won't know you're an agent until you leave, so don't let anything slip."

"Roger," George said, getting up. "What do you want to do about the thugs I beat up?"

"Let me have a description and I'll pass it on to the police. They're guilty of trespassing, so a couple of officers putting the pressure on might just do the trick. We'll tighten up security here, too, but in the holidays especially it's tough to tell who's coming and going," Helen said. "Why were they here, anyway?"

"Kev hired them to beat me up," George said, shaking his head. "It obviously didn't work, but he thinks I'm stealing his money."

"I'll do a bit of investigating, but no promises. I thought you might get along with Kevin, so I'm sorry it didn't work out," Helen said sympathetically. "Anyway, if I were you I'd go and tell Dougie that there are no punishments being dished out; he's probably sitting in his room crying his eyes out."

"I just hope he didn't go straight to Leah, or she'll probably be next in the queue to attack me with a knife," George replied.

The door to Dougie's bedroom was shut, so George knocked. "Dougie, it's me, George."

There were some loud sniffs from inside as the door opened, and Dougie looked up at him, eyes red. George was a little upset to notice that Dougie looked scared, as if he was about to lash out, so he gave the younger boy an encouraging smile.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Okay," Dougie said, letting George sit on his bed and shutting the door behind him. Whoever Dougie shared his room with was big into wrestling, but Dougie's half was mostly

bare. Dougie sat on the carpet and let out another loud sniff.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I told Helen it was me and she's agreed to punish me and not you," he said encouragingly. "I didn't realise they were going to be so strict, or I would never have asked you to keep it for me."

Dougie brightened up a little. "But, aren't they going to kick you out and send you to another home?" he asked.

"She's going to suspend any punishments for a week and let me know then," George replied, hoping that kicking the issue into the long grass would be good enough to convince him. "I doubt I'll be moved, though. It'll probably just be a lot of washing up or something."

"But, Helen told me-"

"It's okay, I think my old social worker spoke to her or something," George lied, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, since I might be banned from playing on the PlayStation for the rest of my life, how about we fit in as much as possible now? Cheer you up a bit."

"Okay," Dougie said, still sounding upset.

"One last thing," George added. "Please don't tell Leah about this. She's guaranteed to try and kill me if she finds out I gave you the game"

Dougie nodded, but George wasn't convinced the lie would last very long.

He was right. When Leah asked Dougie why he'd been summoned to Helen's office, she put two and two together and he found her waiting outside his room that evening.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she snarled, barging in and trying to grab hold of him, but George dodged away.

"I didn't expect them to find it," he countered. "I was planning to get it back today."

Leah lashed out with a punch, which George dodged again. "He's ten! Why should he get punished for something you did?"

"The moment I found out he was in trouble, I told them it was me," he said defensively, grabbing her wrists and stopping her from trying to punch him again. He was glad Kev had gone out somewhere, and with a bit of grappling he managed to pin her to his bed.

"So are you getting punished?" Leah asked sweetly, giving him an evil grin. "You deserve it."

"Yeah, I'm getting fifteen years in maximum security prison," George said sarcastically. "Helen just said that most likely I'll be banned from computer games for a while."

"I hope it's forever," Leah said, but her expression had softened and she seemed happier. George let go of her wrists, assuming she wasn't going to try and beat him up, but she grabbed him and rolled until she had him pinned to the bed this time, her knee inches from his balls.

"Aha, got you," she said, moving her knee just enough to make George very uncomfortable.

"What are you gonna do now, tough guy?"

George struggled against her grip, but she just moved her knee slightly until he stopped. "Get off me," he said, realising that it sounded babyish.

"When's Kev coming back?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Uh, I have no idea," George replied. "Why?"

"You look cute when you're scared."

George was about to open his mouth to insult her, but she leant forwards and landed a kiss on his lips. His eyes shot open and he expected it to be a joke, but she looked serious. He timidly tried kissing her back and it worked, this time for longer, but someone made a noise on the stairs and she leapt off him like a scared cat.

"I-" he began saying, sitting up, but she just blushed and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Oi!" a muffled voice shouted from downstairs, but George just sat on his bed, stunned. He considered going after her, but he guessed from her expression that it might not be a good idea, so instead he just sat there, wondering about the weird directions his day had taken.

The final act of a very strange day came at half ten, when he was sitting on his own in the lounge, midway through a time-attack on a rally stage. Helen tapped him on the shoulder and he paused it as she shut the door and took a seat beside him on the sofa.

"Dougie's been sedated and is being taken as we speak," she told him, keeping her voice down. "No problems."

"Good," George replied. "When they tried to sedate me, I ran off and eventually had to be

knocked out with a punch."

Helen laughed. "Remember, if anyone asks where he's gone tomorrow, you don't know," she said, rapping her knuckles on the wooden arm of the sofa. "Touch wood that everything goes well for him."

George nodded, thinking once again that his life was definitely very different to how it might have been if he'd never been recruited into CHERUB. "What do you make of his chances?"

Helen made an unsure gesture with her hand. "He's got the aptitude, but some of the recruitment tests are physical and he's been quite sheltered with Leah looking after him. He might find being on his own a difficult adjustment."

"If he doesn't pass, I don't know how much longer I can handle being here. It's just so boring," George said. "Plus, I'll just get moved to another home until I can find a worthwhile recruit."

"I'd love to put in a good word for you with the authorities, but I can see exactly why you're being punished and I reckon you deserve it a bit," Helen grinned, getting up. "Enjoy your game."

He thought he liked Helen, but at times she wasn't exactly nice to him. Before he could think much more, his phone buzzed and he checked it, expecting a text from Leah, but it was just a notification to tell him his battery was getting low. He put it back in his pocket, wondering what he was going to do. The chapter in the training manual about close personal relationships was playing on his mind, especially since he'd be gone in a week, but if he rejected her she might just punch him in the face. He sighed and wished he could ask Michael or someone on campus for advice. In the movies, first kisses were never this complicated.